Jacqueline Wilson is a decorated author - her influence within children’s literature spanning decades. However, recent Tiktoks discussing the mature topics within her novels have brought into question whether children as young as 8 should have been reading some of her books.
In my opinion, Wilson is a fantastic author and is rightly celebrated by literary awards such as the Guardian Prize and the British Book Award. The Hetty Feather series, the Story of Tracy Beaker and Lily Alone are just a few books cherished by young readers over the years. Recently on ‘Booktok’ (a section of the app Tik Tok dedicated to books), creators have brought into question whether her work should have featured mature themes at all due to them being marketed towards a young audience. Many of her books center around themes like divorce, suicide, death, abandonment etc. . The use of such controversial issues has been both celebrated and criticised - some say it is good for children to see themselves represented in books or learn about others’ issues. Conversely, others argue these are too complex for young children to be reading and should be aimed at an older reading age.
One avid reader, Evie Pearson, shares her mixed thoughts on Jacqueline Wilson’s books. Understandably, she thinks that the marketing should have been clearer as her parents “would not even question” the books they were buying for her. I agree with this sentiment - although a big part of Wilson’s intrigue is that she discusses controversial topics and makes them more palatable for a younger audience, I did not understand how deep into the issues she would go into. However, things have changed; we now live in a time where trigger and content warnings are becoming increasingly common and perhaps we should not judge Wilson by today’s standards. Pearson has also seen the 'Booktok' discussion and adds that many children can relate to these situations, and she saw it as “validating” to see elements of her own life in books she “resonated” with.
Despite this, there is some legitimacy to concerns over the mature content. An example could be ‘Vicky Angel’ which was first published in 2000. A brief synopsis of this book reveals that it discusses difficult topics - it centres a young girl dealing with the death of her best friend. There are obvious concerns when discussing death and grief in detail to an intended audience of 8-12 year olds. However, it could be argued that talking about death to children is often avoided and seen as uncomfortable. Thus, by addressing this in a book geared towards children - it could help parents broach the sensitive topic.
As a fan of Wilson’s books, I do find it shocking knowing I read about these topics at a young age; a view shared by a lot of ‘Booktok’. Many of these online creators have grown up loving the books and some may see it as a good thing that years later, her books are still a point of discussion and interest even if the discussion is not always positive. Either way it is up to the parents of these impressionable minds to decide what is suitable. The rest is out of Jacqueline Wilson’s hands!
